This application is related to commonly assigned U.S. patent application:
Ser. No. 10/102,450, entitled xe2x80x9cField-Emission Matrix Display Based on Electron Reflection,xe2x80x9d filed on Mar. 20, 2002; and
Ser. No. 10/102,472, entitled xe2x80x9cPixel Structure for an Edge-Emitter Field-Emission Display,xe2x80x9d filed on Mar. 20, 2002, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to solid-state displays and more specifically to reflective field emission displays.
2. Background of the Invention
Solid state and non-Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display technologies are well-known in the art. Light Emitting Diode (LED) displays, for example, include semiconductor diode elements that may be arranged in configurations to display alphanumeric characters. Alphanumeric characters are then displayed by applying a potential or voltage to specific elements within the configuration. Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) are composed of a liquid crystal material sandwiched between two sheets of a polarizing material. When a voltage is applied to the sandwiched materials, the liquid crystal material aligns in a manner to pass or block light. Plasma displays conventionally use a neon/xenon gas mixture housed between sealed glass plates that have parallel electrodes deposited on the surface.
Passive matrix displays and active matrix displays are flat panel displays that are used extensively in laptop and notebook computers. In a passive matrix display, there is a matrix or grid of solid-state elements in which each element or pixel is selected by applying a potential to a corresponding row and column line that forms the matrix or grid. In an active matrix display, each pixel is further controlled by at least one transistor and a capacitor that is also selected by applying a potential to a corresponding row and column line. Active matrix displays provide better resolution than passive matrix displays, but they are considerably more expensive to produce.
While each of these display technologies has advantages, such as low power and lightweight, they also have characteristics that make them unsuitable for many other types of applications. Passive matrix displays have limited resolution, while active matrix displays are expensive to manufacture.
Hence, there is a need for a low-cost, lightweight, high-resolution display that can be used in a variety of display applications.
A Reflective Field Emission Display (FED) system using reflective field emission pixel elements is disclosed. In the FED system disclosed, pixel elements are composed of at least one edge emitter, a reflector and a laterally opposed collector layer. The reflector layer attracts and reflects electrons that are extracted from an edge emitter. The reflected electrons are laterally attracted to an associated collector layer. A phosphor layer deposited on the collector layer emits photons when bombarded by reflected electrons attracted to the collector layer. In another aspect of the invention, a transparent layer is positioned opposite the emitter edge and is operable to inhibit reflected electrons from being attracted to the collector layer.